It's the seemingly little things that can get us out of sorts – especially when we're out and about for a special evening: a chipped nail, a broken zipper, a pimple that pops up right before we're having our picture taken. We chat with Red Carpet experts and home-tip superstar Heloise about saving our favorite clothing items to wear again and quick-fix remedies to get us back into the party or to our dinner date looking and feeling great.

NAILS

How do I fix a chipped nail?

“Dip a different fingertip in nail polish remover and smooth down [the nail with the chipped polish]. Then take the color you used and put one coat where the polish is missing and let it dry. Then do one full coat over the entire nail, or another way is to add glitter or another color to the tip to create a whole new look.”

“Apply a warm cloth compress for one minute, then run under warm water again and apply for another minute, and repeat five times total. This will speed up the blemish's ‘self-expression.' It will soften and self-resolve in two to three hours and make it easy for a licensed dermatologist to take care of. The warm compress and applying an acne treatment gel with benzoyl peroxide will minimize redness and size of the blemish ASAP.”

How do I reduce my puffy eyes?

“Apply a cold compress for 30 seconds and cool again. Repeat this for three cycles. Additionally, adhering to a zero-salt-added diet gets rid of under-eye puffiness.”

– Dr. Harold Lancer, Beverly Hills

celebrity dermatologist known for the Lancer Method

MAKEUP

How do I fix runny mascara without ruining the rest of my makeup?

“Choosing the right mascara is key! My favorite is L'Oreal Voluminous Waterproof Mascara ($5.84, target.com). This should eliminate the runny effect. But should it happen, here are a few simple steps: Always have an emergency makeup remover wipe on hand [a Q-tip & waterproof makeup remover also can work]. Gently wipe as close to the eye-line, removing excess mascara. Reapply a small amount of concealer. Voila! Your eye makeup is refreshed and the runny mascara is no more. If this is a persistent problem, I would recommend dying your eyelashes.”

How do I fix clumpy mascara?

“It's all in the brush! Beauty professionals usually ditch the brush that comes with the tube and invest in a mini fan brush [MAC makes one for $20, maccosmetics.com]. Applying mascara with this tool allows you to apply mascara with more precision, eliminating clumps and chunks. You can also use an eyelash comb to break up any clumps.”

For these answers, we talked to Heloise, internationally syndicated newspaper columnist and a contributing editor and columnist for Good Housekeeping magazine. Her latest book, “Handy Household Hints From Heloise,” is out in paperback.

How do I fix a stuck zipper?

“You want to grease the zipper – oil it, lubricate it. The easiest is to use candle wax, bar soap or, as a last resort, a pencil. I would suggest a pencil only of it's a dark-colored garment. You want to rub the candle wax on both sides of the zipper and wriggle it or rock it back and forth. If you use too much force it might break one of the teeth – especially if it's one of those plastic zippers.”

Can I reverse shrunken washable clothes?

“Jeans will stretch back out a little bit. For a wool sweater, supposedly you can soak it in a capful of hair cream rinse and a sink full of water. The theory being that the rinse would coat the fibers and you could stretch it out a bit. ... But then the real key is – say it's a sweater or even a shirt – is to roll it up in a bath towel and then I stand on it to get as much water out as possible, and then I block it and pull it out probably not more than half of an inch.

“To stretch or ‘block' it, I take my hands and pull it apart – normally, it's where the shoulders are and kind of around the armhole, so I'll put my hands inside and then kind of pull them out opposite directions. After I stretch it out as far as I can with my hands, then I'd set a heavy book on top of it on both sides. But first, I'd put wax paper or aluminum foil down [on top of the clothing item] – you don't want the book to get wet or transfer any color or anything. You're not really going to ‘unshrink' anything a lot, but you've got nothing to lose.”

How do I remove dirt on the canvas part of my Espadrille wedges?

“First thing with any mud stain is that you always want to let it completely dry, because if it's moist or damp, mud or dirt is going to spread. Then with a toothbrush, or whatever dry brush you want, brush off as much as possible. After it's completely dry and you've brushed off as much as possible, I bet you could also try vacuuming it with the upholstery attachment on your vacuum cleaner.”

How do you remove deodorant stains from washable clothing?

“This is the number one question, especially for men, even from back in my mother's day, and she died in 1977. ... Sometimes [deodorant] doesn't dry right away and so then you put your shirt on and it gets on the garment and then you perspire and then, particularly if you use a deodorant that has aluminum chlorohydrate, it's particularly hard to remove. And many of us wash our clothes, myself included, in warm to cold water that may not be hot enough to dissolve it.

“Tip one is to try not to wear the garment a second time or you're going to get a second coating of all of that. The real key is to, before laundering it, turn the shirt inside out and pour liquid laundry detergent just on that spot and just kind of rub it together like grandmother did, wash it and, if it is really a favorite item of clothing, then air dry it rather than put it into the dryer. Sometimes it takes two washings to get this out, but then it's gone.”

How do you remove foundation from a washable shirt collar?

“Putting hair shampoo on the stain will remove a lot of makeup because it's designed to break down body oils. Cheap regular hair shampoo, I mean the big bottle at the grocery store or drugstore, is worth its weight in gold. Now, hair shampoo lathers up, laundry detergent really shouldn't, so don't put a cup of hair shampoo in the clothes washer thinking you'll get them clean – you'll end up with humongous suds.

So you just want a teaspoon or

tablespoon.”

How do I remove lipstick from a shirt?

“If you drop something on your shirt and start rubbing, all you're doing is pushing the stain into the fabric. You want to work from the backside and place the stain face-down on a paper towel or old terry towel – dab (don't rub) the back of the stain with isopropyl rubbing alcohol or tamp it, pushing the stain through, until the stain is gone. If there's still residue, try using a pre-laundry stain remover before laundering.”

You can search for stain-removal tips online, but remember that makeup formulas, fabrics, laundry and cleaning agents and a myriad of formulas in general are always changing, so Heloise recommends checking her most recent books for updated hints. For example, if you spill oil on your clothing at dinner, sprinkling a packet of Splenda on it can help absorb the stain. There are many quick stain-remover products, including good enzyme-based removers that are particularly good for pet stains, but sometimes “the simple home things are the best.”

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